In general, skillful shooting in daily life cannot do without the assistance from a tripod or a unipod (monopod). Functions of a stand could not be ignored by a professional user or an amateur user, e.g., the main function of a stand is for stabilizing a camera. Currently, support devices for photographic and video shooting equipment mainly include unipods (monopods) and tripods. Unipods have unique advantages in portability, flexibility and the like, while skillful shooting in an actual shooting process often cannot do without the assistance from a tripod. For example, in night scene shooting, micro shooting and the like, the main function of a tripod is to stabilize a camera to achieve some photographic effects. For outdoor shooting, it can be very inconvenient if a unipod and a tripod are carried at the same time, while for various photographic environments, both kinds of stands may need to be used.
To solve the above problem, Chinese patent document CN201215232Y discloses a multifunctional unipod composed of three supporting legs, a fixed seat connected with the three supporting legs, and a fixing piece for fixing the three supporting legs. When the three supporting legs are combined (collapsed), an independent support leg is formed. The upper ends of the supporting legs are movably connected with the fixed seats via pin shafts. The fixing piece is fixed above the fixed seat and among the upper portions of the three supporting legs via fixing caps. That is, in the multifunctional unipod described in the above patent document, transformation between a tripod and a unipod is achieved by combining (collapsing) the three supporting legs to form one independent support leg. Although the multifunctional unipod described in the above patent document can be used as a unipod, it is actually a tripod and is not really transformed into a unipod.
To solve the above problem, Chinese patent document CN201449508U discloses a detachable transformational structure of a multifunctional shooting tripod, which comprises foot-tube joints, foot-tube joint inserts fixedly connected with the foot-tube joints, tube components, outer tube inserts fixedly connected with the tube components, a tripod-head loading plate, a central tube insert fitted and connected to the tripod-head loading plate, and a central tube fitted and connected to the central tube insert, wherein each foot-tube joint insert can be fitted and connected to an outer tube insert; and a connecting structure fitted to the tripod-head loading plate and the central tube insert can be exchanged with a connecting structure fitted to the foot-tube joint insert and the outer tube insert. That is, in the detachable transformational structure of the multifunctional shooting tripod described in the above patent document, the foot-tube component and the foot-tube joint are connected in a detachable manner, and the tripod-head loading plate and the central tube are also detachable. Meanwhile, the connecting structure fitted to the tripod-head loading plate and the central tube insert can be exchanged with the connecting structure fitted to the foot-tube joint insert and the outer tube insert, i.e., the tripod-head loading plate can be fitted to the central tube insert, and also can be fitted to the outer tube insert, and therefore, when the tripod needs to be used as a unipod, one only needs to detach one foot-tube component from a foot-tube joint and mount the tripod-head loading plate to use the tripod as a unipod.
The multifunctional shooting tripod with the detachable transformational structure described in the above patent documents can realize high-angle shooting, and can be used as an ordinary unipod after being disassembled, but the multifunctional shooting tripod with such a structure cannot be used in low-angle shooting, and cannot satisfy users' requirements in photographic and video shooting equipment and some specific photographic effects in low-angle shooting.